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Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas) (pictured) faces Democrat Wesley Reed in a race to represent Texas' 27th Congressional District. | Bill Clark via Getty Images

When several dozen protesters lined up outside the Corpus Christi office of Texas Rep. Blake Farenthold last year, holding a petition with about 10,000 signatures in favor of immigration reform, they hoped to win the Republican's support before the 2014 midterm elections.

Six months closer to the already-heated elections, immigration reform advocates have little to show for it.

Although the two-term congressman has met with advocates and expressed openness to some type of reform, he hasn't made the full-scale evolution on immigration that some Republicans in similarly Latino-heavy districts have. His seat is safe enough that despite the large number of Latino voters he represents, he doesn't need to.

Farenthold's 27th District, which sits less than 200 miles from the Mexico border, has a substantial Latino population of 345,730 -- just under half the district. But that population isn't as influential as it once was. According to U.S. Census figures, the 2012 remapping of Texas increased the voting-age population for whites in the district by more than 100,000 voters, while reducing the number of Hispanics who could vote there by about that same number. Recent figures show the district currently has 243,991 white voters compared to 233,071 Hispanic voters.

In 2010, Farenthold defeated longtime Rep. Solomon Ortiz (D-Texas) by just 775 votes, following a recount. He easily won reelection in 2012, in part because the district no longer included the Latino voting bloc in the border town of Brownsville and added heavily Republican communities around Corpus Christi.

In Farenthold's 2014 election campaign, immigration will be a major part of the debate. He told HuffPost in a statement this week that although he supports legal immigration, he is "opposed to any policy that promotes illegal immigration."

"That said, our current system is broken and needs reform," he continued. "I sit on the House Judiciary Committee, where weve been actively working on concrete solutions to fix our nations immigration policy, piece-by-piece. Over the last several months, our committee has already made key advancements in reforming our immigration system by passing individual measures aimed at fixing specific problems with the current system."

The incumbent faces Democratic newcomer Wesley Reed, a 44-year-old FedEx pilot and Marine Corps Reserve member who has lived in the district for nearly six years. Reed has been seeking the support of immigration advocates, arguing that the congressman is wrong for joining his party in opposing broad reforms prior to the November general election.

"[Republicans] are more willing to adhere to tea party talking points to try to make sure they have their tea party base and support from them so they don't get any kind of primary so they can stay in office," Reed said. "But that's not what we need to do as a Congress. We need to make sure that we work together to find legitimate solutions to the problems for the people who are here undocumented."

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